Elon Musk comes out to defend his billionaire Russian counterpart Pavel Durov who owns messaging app Telegram branding his arrest ‘dangerous’ and sharing #freepavel

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has expressed his solidarity with arrested Russian billionaire Pavel Durov after he was arrested in France on Saturday in connection with crimes against minors.

Durov, the CEO of Telegram, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing in a private jet on Saturday night. OFMIN, a French government agency responsible for protecting minors from violence, had issued an arrest warrant for him.

He was accused of facilitating organized crime, drug trafficking, fraud, cyberbullying and promoting terrorism on his platform, which has about 950 million users worldwide.

Musk has joined critics of the arrest who accuse authorities of stifling freedom of speech. Last night, Musk tweeted “#FreePavel” with a short clip of Durov speaking to Tucker Carlson.

In the interview, which first aired in April, Durov praised X for “seemingly gaining more freedom of expression.”

“It’s a great development and it looks like things are starting to change.”

Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram (pictured), was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing in a private jet late Saturday.

Musk tweeted “#FreePavel” with a short clip of Durov speaking with Tucker Carlson

Referring to France’s national motto, Musk also posted: ‘Liberté Liberté! Liberté?’

Last weekend he also posted the message ‘Dangerous times’ in response to claims that much of Europe is restricting freedom of expression.

Telegram is an encrypted messaging app that is “secure and free.” It has pledged to never reveal information about its users or pass on data to third parties.

Telegram is intended to compete with WhatsApp and offers users the ability to have “secret chats,” where messages are stored on devices rather than in the cloud. Messages can also be set to automatically destroy after a certain time.

Telegram’s determination to remain ‘neutral’ and not take sides has led to criticism, with terrorists, criminal gangs and extremists using the app as a means of communication.

The campaign has come under criticism amid rumours that it was used by far-right extremists during recent violent protests in England.

Telegram criticised the arrest of its CEO Pavel Durov as “absurd” after he was detained over allegations he failed to tackle criminal activity on the messaging app.

The company said in a statement via the app: “Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act. Moderation is conducted within industry standards.

Questions are being asked about why Telegram CEO Pavel Durov (pictured), arrested at a French airport last night, would risk traveling knowing he would likely be detained

Durov founded the app in 2013 together with his brother Nikolai (Stock photo)

Pavel Durov is a social media mogul who has been arrested on allegations that he failed to tackle criminal activity on the messaging app Telegram

“Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels regularly around Europe,” it added.

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform.”

In a recent TV interview, Mr Durov, who fled Russia a decade ago, insisted that Telegram was “neutral” and “we apply the rules equally to all sides”. Western governments have often criticised Telegram for the messaging service’s lack of content moderation.

Speaking about disputes with governments, he told US broadcaster Tucker Carlson: ‘Politicians and societies know what to expect from social media platforms and where the red lines are. I don’t necessarily believe things will get worse.’

A Telegram spokesperson previously told the Mail that “calls for violence are explicitly prohibited” and that the app used AI, proactive moderation and “user reports” to remove content that violates its terms.